Buttes and Dunes

This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows buttes composed of light-toned, sedimentary rock exposed by erosion within a crater occurring immediately west of Schiaparelli Basin near 4.0°S, 347.9°W. Surrounding these buttes is a field of dark sand dunes and lighter-toned, very large windblown ripples. The sedimentary rocks might indicate that the crater interior was once the site of a lake. The image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the lower left.